Nampa and New Era in printing press JV

The Namibian Press Agency (Nampa) and state run newspaper, New Era are soon expected to form a joint venture company with other unnamed stakeholders to establish the country’s second printing press.Motivating his ministry’s N$679 million budget for the 2013/14 financial year in Parliament earlier this week, Joel Kapanda the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, said the setting up of the printing press is expected to save on printing costs and generate income for the parties involved.The move to open a new printing press comes as Nampa has been on a media convergence drive in recent months after the news agency ventured into the production of audio-visual news services late last year. The agency is now producing news video clips and documentaries for online viewers and local and international television stations, as well as audio clips for local radio stations. For the 2013/14 financial year, Nampa is also expected to introduce public relations services to complement its current product output.Minister Kaapanda said N$17 million has been budgeted for Nampa to be able to implement its activities for 2013/14 financial year which also include property development as part of its income generation projects expected to reduce the news agency’s financial dependency on Government. State run newspaper, New era will be allocated N$7 million during this financial year. Part of the funds will go towards the printing press and the development of the Ongwediva office park in the Oshana region to further generate additional revenue.National broadcaster, NBC, will receive the biggest chunk of the ministry’s allocation – N$411 million. The money will go towards the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting, as well as for the broadcaster to execute its mandate in terms of the Broadcasting Act.Namzim, the joint venture project between Namibia and Zimbabwe has been allocated N$7 million for this financial year. Minister Kaapanda said the money will assist Namzim to increase its presence in the SADC region by opening three new offices in Zambia, Angola and Botswana and open up new markets in other countries in the region in order to cover issues pertaining to the region’s development more effectively, to increase the newspaper readership and revenue.